Syncopation

In music , syncopation is the deliberate upsetting of the meter or pulse of a composition by means of a temporary shifting of the accent to a weak beat or an off-beat. In other words, it is when a musician plays on rhythmic and metrical expectations such as giving a silence where a stressed note is expected or stressing a normally weak beat. Used extensively in the fourteenth century, syncopation is a rhythm in which normally unaccented beats are stressed either through agogic or dynamic rhythm. Syncopation has been used in the music of all periods, and is one of the foremost features of jazz.<br>